Evolutionary aspects of environmental sex determination

Summary The phenomenon of evironmentally cued sex determination (E.S.D.) is reviewed. E.S.D. is defined and its characteristics are described by comparison to other sex determining systems. The evidence for the presence of E.S.D. among Echiura, Nematoda and Crustacea is presented, with reference to the evidence for sex-specific size-related fitness in each group. A diversity of sex-determining cues, not all of them related to factors affecting fitness, are identified. The review considers current theoretical models for E.S.D. and sex-ratio manipulation in patchy environments, and discusses the relevance of these, models to the described examples. Past analysis has concentrated on; size in relation to nutrition but time may be an equally important factor in many cases.

[1]  J. Vávra,et al.  Infection by the microsporidian Octosporea effeminans sp. n., and its sex determining influence in the amphipod Gammarus duebeni. , 1968, The Journal of parasitology.

[2]  A. C. Triantaphyllou.  Environmental Sex Differentiation of Nematodes in Relation to Pest Management , 1973 .

[3]  J. Bull.  Evolution of sex determining mechanisms , 1983 .

[4]  R. G. Reinhard.  Experiments on the determination and differentiation of sex in the bopyrid Stegophryxus hyptius Thompson. , 1949, The Biological bulletin.

[5]  E. Charnov.  The theory of sex allocation. , 1984, Monographs in population biology.

[6]  E. Charnov,et al.  Facultative sex ratios and population dynamics , 1978, Nature.

[7]  J. Bull,et al.  MODELS OF POLYGENIC SEX DETERMINATION AND SEX RATIO CONTROL , 1982, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[8]  P. Taylor,et al.  The Effects of Population Recruitment on Sex Ratio Selection , 1984, The American Naturalist.

[9]  J. Bull,et al.  Sex ratio evolution when fitness varies , 1981, Heredity.

[10]  D. Conover.  Adaptive Significance of Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination in a Fish , 1984, The American Naturalist.

[11]  A. J. Cunningham.  A Method of Increased Sensitivity for detecting Single Antibody-forming Cells , 1965, Nature.

[12]  M. Sheader.  The reproductive biology and ecology of Gammarus duebeni (Crustacea: Amphipoda) in southern England , 1983, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[13]  E. Charnov,et al.  When is sex environmentally determined? , 1977, Nature.

[14]  H. Ouden.  A Note On Parthenogenesis and Sex Determination in Heterodera Rostochiensis Woll , 1960 .

[15]  C. Ellenby.  Environmental Determination of the Sex Ratio of a Plant Parasitic Nematode , 1954, Nature.

[16]  J. Bull.  Evolution of environmental sex determination from genotypic sex determination , 1981, Heredity.

[17]  J. J. Petersen.  Factor affecting sex ratios of a mermithid parasite of mosquitoes. , 1972, Journal of nematology.

[18]  D. Mugniéry,et al.  Détermination du sexe de Globodera rostochiensis Woll. et influence des niveaux d'infestation sur la pénétration, le développement et le sexe de ce nématode , 1984 .

[19]  J. Bergerard.  Environmental and Physiological Control of Sex Determination and Differentiation , 1972 .

[20]  J. Christie.  Some observations on sex in the Mermithidae , 1929 .

[21]  J. Seger.  Partial bivoltinism may cause alternating sex-ratio biases that favour eusociality , 1983, Nature.

[22]  A. Anya.  Physiological aspects of reproduction in nematodes. , 1976, Advances in parasitology.

[23]  Barry T. O. Lee,et al.  Multiple sex determining regions in a group of related Chironomus species (Diptera:Chironomidae) , 1980, Heredity.

[24]  R. Anderson,et al.  Environmental sex determination and density-dependent population regulation in the entomogenous nematode Romanomermis culicivorax , 1986, Parasitology.

[25]  J. Bull.  Sex Determination in Reptiles , 1980, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[26]  K. Sandlan.  Sex ratio regulation in Coccygomimus turionella Linnaeus (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) and its ecological implications , 1979 .

[27]  R. Leutert.  Sex-Determination in Bonellia , 1975 .

[28]  H. Hynes.  The reproductive cycle of some British freshwater Gammaridae , 1955 .

[29]  B. Kerry,et al.  The Sex Ratios of Cyst-Nematodes Produced By Adding Single Second-Stage Juveniles To Host Roots , 1980 .

[30]  D. Trudgill,et al.  The effect of resistant solanaceous plants on the sex ratio of Heterodera rostochiensis and the use of the sex ratio to assess the frequency and genetic constitution of pathotypes , 1967 .

[31]  G. Yeates.  Studies on laboratory cultures of dune sand nematodes , 1970 .

[32]  Jack G. Robinson,et al.  Sex Ratio: Adaptive Response to Population Fluctuations in Pandalid Shrimp , 1978, Science.

[33]  D. Trudgill.  The effect of environment on sex determination in Heterodera rostochiensis. , 1967 .